Charlotte Howe – American Slave in Thames Ditton

Charlotte Howe was brought to Britain from America in 1781 by Captain Howe. British forces were in the midst of the American Wars of Independence, which were to go on until 1783. Charlotte was brought to a Thames Ditton household to act as a servant to the Captain and his wife.

The baptism of Charlotte Howe (in December, 1783), as recorded in the records of the parish of St. Nicholas in Thames Ditton (SHC Ref: 2568/1/4).

The Captain passed away in June 1783. Soon afterwards, Charlotte Howe was baptised (on 17th December) in the parish of St. Nicholas, Thames Ditton, taking her master’s surname. This is our earliest record of her. She might have been a relatively unknown servant and disappeared from historical records but for one thing – an extensive legal debate which tried to establish whether or not she remained a slave in Britain, as she had been in America.

Charlotte continued to live with the Captain’s widow, staying with her ‘for five or six months’ when the widow moved to Chelsea. For whatever reason, Charlotte walked out and returned to Thames Ditton. There, she appealed for parish relief – she was unmarried and had no income.

Just like every other servant in the Howe household, she had been working for free. This was one of the terms of her coming to live in England, for she had previously been a slave who relied directly on her master for her welfare instead of working for a wage.

Before she could benefit from parish relief, she had to prove that she had worked for forty days in the parish. There was also the problem of which parish she belonged to and so the issue was taken to the Court of the King’s Bench in April 1785, before the Lord Chancellor, Lord Mansfield. Lord Mansfield also oversaw the famous James Somersett case in 1772, so his words on the fate of Charlotte Howe were much anticipated.

A representative from the parish of St. Nicholas in Thames Ditton was sent to the Court of the King’s Bench in London to appeal the decision that Charlotte Howe’s upkeep should be paid for by their vestry funds. According to the Churchwardens’ Accounts (SHC Ref. 2568/8/4), he was paid 12s 6d expenses for the journey.

The court decided that, since Charlotte Howe earned no salary as a slave, she did not qualify for parish relief. The Lord Chancelor had admitted that it was possible to remain a slave in Britain and do forced, unpaid labour. Unsurprisingly, this case fuelled a large amount of debate over the problem of impoverished slaves in Britain.